The Curse, The Snake and The Super-Weapon
by chingusmdingu
Summary: Orochimaru has finished creating his masterpiece. Kabuto is in charge of an elite group of ninja designed to destroy the Hidden Leaf. And Yusuke Sohda, an ordinary merchant, is branded with the curse seal and forced to thwart an impending doom by locating and gathering all of the Sage of Six Paths' chakra fragments. A reanimation jutsu gone wrong doesn't help either.
1. Autumn's breeze

The Autumn wind breezed through the night, picking up the sand and sweeping it across the village. Yusuke Sohda, a merchant, looked out of the window from his apartment, to the stars above and sighed, tomorrow he would have to walk to the hidden sand village. It wasn't far, only a few tens of kilometres away, but the short road was harsh. Apparently, bandits have been on the rise, and were attacking nearby villages. Since he was going to the hidden sand anyway to trade his wares, Yusuke was given money by his own village to hire ninjas to protect them from the thugs. He could only hope they didn't attack his village before he got to the hidden sand. Yusuke turned his lamp off, and went to sleep ** _._**

 ** _~TIME SKIP~_**

Yusuke's black hair turned brown in the light of the sun as he drank his cup of water, his trading caravan stood still. His stomach howled like a wolf, he had forgot to eat breakfast. Yusuke took another bite of his bread, and gulped it down with some water as well, like the genius he was, he had forgot to pack any other food and drinks save for the things he was going to sell.

 _Crunch._

Yusuke heard the sound of shoes stepping on sand.

 _Crunch._

And again

 _Crunch._

Knowing he was not hearing things, Yusuke quickly ate his food, (there wasn't much left anyway) and stood up. He was being attacked.

"Another merchant? Boy aren't we lucky." Someone said.

"I wish it was a patrol, they're more fun to fight against, right Teruo?" the bandit asked.

"Nah, Koi. They don't have the sort of money merchants do" Teruo replied.

Goosebumps rose on Yusuke's skin, his hair stood on edge. This was his first time being attacked by bandits. They were buff and seemed strong.

"Wh-what do you want" Yusuke struggled to raise his voice.

"Your money, genius" The one named Koi answered while Teruo pulled a kunai from a satchel he carried.

"Look, I'll g-give you as much as y-you want." Yusuke hadn't stammered this much since 15 years ago, when he was 4.

"I want everything!" Teruo yelled while dashing towards Yusuke, who couldn't even see his attacker move.

"Errgh!" Yusuke grunted. A slice on his shoulder, a stab in the leg, and a solid kick to the gut was enough to put him on the ground, defeated.

"See? What did I tell you Terou, too easy and no fun at all" Koi sighed.

Terou opened Yusuke's caravan, which was filled with supplies and money.

"See? What did I tell you, Koi. Lots of money. Lots." Terou grinned.

 ** _~TIME SKIP~_**

Yusuke's vision blurred. He felt the weight of the world on himself and searing pain in his right leg. He would phase from sleeping to opening his eyes for a couple of seconds, before sleeping again. He still could not yet move his body. He opened his eyes for the last time and saw a white haired man wearing glasses and a headband, and then Yusuke fell asleep once again.

Yusuke opened his eyes. grimy walls, steel bars and iron chains. He was in a prison and the air was hot. He was still fatigued by the bandit attack, but his right leg and shoulder were both patched up, at least. But he still felt immense pain, not on his chest or gut, but next to his neck. Yusuke turned his head left slowly, a headache throbbing in his brain.

What he saw was a circle with three tomoe in the centre, it was like a tattoo. Yusuke placed his hand over the mark, as if to make the pain go away, to no avail. He continued to lie down there for a while, eyes closed, and when he would wake up, it would all be a dream.

Then Yusuke heard footsteps, coming his way. He still didn't open his eyes, but he could still hear what the person was saying.

"Hmm, seems this subject has survived being branded by Orochimaru's new curse seal of hell, this brings down the fatality rate to 15%, a big improvement from the 90% fatality rate of Orochimaru's other cursed seals."

Then the person walked away, and Yusuke was still trying to sleep, only this time from the fear he felt swelling up in his chest. He had been captured by Orochimaru, the devil himself.

 **OROCHIMARU'S HIDEOUT-LAND OF FIRE**

Darkness engulfed Orochimaru's laboratory, save for the luminous green colour of a bio-tank which he was studying. Until he heard the footsteps of his servant.

"Kabuto, you've returned. Has the new subject survived?" Orochimaru turned, eyes meeting Kabuto's.

"He has, and I have also given him a mind awakening pill while he was asleep, just like the others." Kabuto replied.

Orochimaru didn't say anything, simply nodded as he went back to studying the bio-tank. Kabuto walked out of the laboratory and into the training arena, where he watched 16 people, all branded with the curse seal of hell, spar with each other. Each of them were in the second state of their curse seal, becoming morphed beasts with the power to kill 10 jounin. One of them, Fumi Uzumaki, had complete mastery over the fire element and had even created her own technique, which she was about to use now.

 _Tiger, Bird, Boar, Horse, Serpent._

 _Fire style: Great snake flame!_

Fumi blew an enormous amount of fire from her mouth, which morphed into a snake which she had complete control over. Needless to say, her sparring partners were blasted away when the fire snake rammed straight into them. It would be a while until they would recover. Kabuto had to admit, that one was a prodigy, only 17 years old yet had outclassed her seniors easily. Then again she was an Uzumaki, they were known for their strong life-force and insanely high chakra levels. It was expected of her. Although, right now Kabuto had to find a trainer for the new recruit. Of course it wouldn't be Fumi, she was too special to train a man who probably didn't even know what chakra is. Kabuto would have to find a regular trainer for this subject.

Orochimaru paced back and forth in front of the bio-tank he was studying. He was waiting for her to awaken, his masterpiece. It was a struggle trying to obtain the body of an Uchiha but he wouldn't have to. He could already create a perfect sharingan with biological engineering, now all he needed to do was created a body that could use that sharingan perfectly, then take over that body. The only down side was that although she was created from body tissue salvaged from an Uchiha after the clan massacre, she was also partly comprised of Orochimaru's own DNA, in order to create a body that he was both comfortable in and that could use the sharingan without any hitches, unlike that boy Kakashi. This however meant that the body had Orochimaru's intelligence, skill and senjutsu, heck she even looked like Orochimaru, pale skin and purple pigmentation around the eyes. If this girl, _this body_ was to turn on him, it would be like fighting a more powerful version of himself, which was not good.

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

The creation process was done. The bio-tank was drained of it's luminous green fluids and a hatch opened, Orochimaru's work of art opened her eyes for the first time.

A perfect Sharingan.

Now all he needed was for her to develop it further, then steal her body, and it would be done. He would be the perfect being.

The girl looked up at Orochimaru, who licked his lips.

"Who am I?" She asked, eyes staring up.

"You are my daughter, my weapon, my will. You will do everything I say." Orochimaru hissed.

"Yes, father."

 **OROCHIMARU'S HIDEOUT-LAND OF WIND**

Yusuke was exhausted. He was able to recovery quite well from the injuries he sustained by the 2 bandits, but had never used chakra before, and his lack of it was beginning to wear him down. He was pretty sure he understood the 5 basic nature-transformations, earth, wind, fire, lightning and water. Yusuke's affinity was with wind, which was common for someone where he came from, but from training the whole day, he only managed to blow out a little bit of wind from his mouth, and that was after all that chakra control training.

"Your hopeless." His trainer, a former chunin from the hidden sound, stated.

"I've never done this before, though." Yusuke replied.

"That's why I'm confused as to why Kabuto wants you trained. Sure you have that curse mark, but that's about it. Raw power, no skill." Told the trainer.

Yusuke breathed heavily, he would try again. One more time.

 _Wind style: Air blow!_

The chakra gathered in Yusuke's stomach, sharpened in his throat, then blown from his mouth resulting, in a weak puff.

"I'm done." His trainer said. Walking away to the dormitories.

Yusuke was flustered, and he wouldn't mind giving up now, he tried doing this for 2 hours!

"Oh, and by the way. Even an average shinobi would spend _days_ perfecting one technique no breaks, no sleep. You're exhausted after only spending 2 hours!" His trainer continued walking towards the dormitories.

Yusuke stared at his trainer's back. Then walked away to his own room.

Today was a rough day.


	2. Winter's Chill

_Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh._

Yusuke had recently learned the body flicker technique and picked it up with moderate difficulty. It was a basic jutsu anyway, but he still needed to pause every now and then to catch his breath.

 _Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh._

He was on his first mission to track down a man called Sasuke Uchiha, but not engage. Orochimaru apparently wanted to know his whereabouts, since he had been gone for quite a while longer than expected. Kabuto wouldn't spoil it, but apparently Sasuke was a liability now. Ha. If anyone was a liability now, it was Yusuke. He wasn't even a ninja.

 _Swoosh. Swoosh._ Stop.

Yusuke saw a black haired man wearing white robes with a purple lace tied into a knot at his waist, and a sword clipped on his back. That could only be Sasuke Uchiha. He was in a fight right now, with what seemed to be against 15 Jounin from a village he couldn't recognise.

" _That man is going to get himself killed!_ " Yusuke thought. Before he was proved wrong.

 _Lightning style: Chidori_

Sasuke's hand was engulfed by lightning, a sound similar to what a flock of birds would make was being produced from this jutsu. Then he 'teleported' to the nearest Jounin and impaled him with his Chidori.

" _Holy. Shit._ " Yusuke swelled in shock, awe and fear. Sasuke was no ordinary ninja.

"Chidori Nagash!" He yelled, and purple lighting hit every other ninja in the area, save for Yusuke, who was too far way yet still scared shitless.

All the Jounin were dead, save for one, an injured medic.

"Your squad saw Itachi Uchiha, didn't they?" Sasuke said to the almost-dead ninja.

"Ha-Him? Y-yeah we last s-s-saw him near the border between the Land of…wind and…Lah-Land of fire…Shah-Should be north of here…w-we didn't engage s-since he c-could h-have killed us." The medic replied. He tried to say something else, but was interrupted.

"Cowards like you, don't deserve to live!" Sasuke yelled, then grabbed his sword and decapitated the medic, then sheathed.

In one. Swift. Fluid. Movement.

Sasuke continued walking, as if nothing happened, while Yusuke was already retreating. Escaping using the body flicker technique. This time, he wasn't stopping.

 **OROCHIMARU'S HIDEOUT-LAND OF FIRE**

Orochimaru had recently activated his Super-weapon. He told his daughter to find the 17th curse seal of hell bearer and bring him here, so that they may be briefed on their mission. He knew where Yusuke was, as those with the curse seal of hell could be felt by him no matter where they were. But Orochimaru had bigger things to worry about, first of all, Sasuke might have found out he wanted to dispose of him, since he was no longer needed and might end up returning to the Hidden Leaf earlier than Orochimaru had planned, and end up tipping them about Orochimaru's invasion so that they may prepare. Or not. After all, Sasuke just wanted to kill Itachi, nothing else. The fool would die at the hands of his older brother.

Orochimaru was deep in thought, planning the invasion. It was fortunate not to have Jiraiya in the village, he would hold it off a bit before he would fall. But in the end, if Orochimaru did ' _it'_ properly, the Hidden Leaf would surrender without a fight.

How boring.

 **LAND OF WIND**

Autumn had just ended, and winter had begun. The sand was cold from the winter's chill, and the vastness of the desert Yusuke was in didn't help quench his thirst nor his hunger. Dunes and Dunes plagued the horizon.

What Sasuke did was still fresh in Yusuke's mind. The sparks, the blood, the sword. It all played in repeat for him.

" _How do you even get that strong_!?" Yusuke asked himself.

He got tired of using the body flicker technique hours ago, so walking was his only option. He would probably have to camp for the day. Find a nice cave somewhere. Maybe eat some food.

His stomach growled.

Maybe he should stop thinking about food…and water. Oh, water. Sweet, sweet water.

His stomach growled again.

"You seem hungry." Said a voice behind Yusuke.

Yusuke was too tired to be scared, and simply looked behind warily. He saw a woman just a little bit shorter than him, with deathly pale skin and big, round yellow eyes with purple pigmentation around them. She was wearing a bright red yukata (in the winter!) and had a bag with her.

" _Hopefully that bag has food in it._ " Yusuke drooled at the thought. The girl could see it, and chucked him the bag which he opened to find bread, fruit and water inside.

"Your coming with me to my father's hideout in the Land of Fire. But we will be staying here for the night." She stated. Voice ice cold. Yusuke wasn't really paying attention though.

"Well…where…do we…sleep?" Yusuke questioned, in between mouthfuls of food.

 _Wood style: House creation jutsu_

And in 5 seconds, a 2-storey house, balcony and all, made completely from wood grew out of the ground. Literally. Yusuke's eyebrows raised to the sky, and his jaw was touched the sand. Wood release isn't a nature transformation to laugh at. Even he knew, and he wasn't even a ninja! Only the First Hokage possessed that ability. The girl opened the door and went inside. Yusuke followed, slowly, still in shock.

"Where did you learn wood release?" Yusuke asked.

"I was created with it." She answered.

"It's an ability almost no one is born with." He nodded slowly. Then his eyes widened.

"Wait a minute! What do you mean _created!_ " Yusuke yelled.

"I was created in a vat, by my father, Orochimaru and have the DNA of an unknown Uchiha and Hashirama Senju." She said.

" _Orochimaru!? What the hell!_ " Yusuke cursed internally.

"The-then, wh-who are y-you?" He stuttered, even more shocked than before.

"I…don't know." She quietly sighed.

Yusuke gulped his surprise then asked "What's your name?"

"I never was given one. Though I am referred to as Subject 642946161." She recited.

"Well for simplicity's sake, can I just call you…um…Misaki?" Yusuke asked shyly.

Misaki seemed to contemplate it for a while, then replied. "Fine, you can call me that if you wish." Voice ice cold.

"Well, my name is Yusuke Sohda. Merchant. Former, merchant." Yusuke used his thumb to point to himself.

Misaki didn't say anything, but glared at him. You were only a merchant if all you cared about was money and riches. Seems even a few-days-old person created in a vat knew that.

"Ok, so…uh, where is the Land of Fire?" Yusuke nervously smiled.

"Far east of here. You were heading all the way down to the Land of Water." Misaki hissed. She probably had been searching for Yusuke a while now, thinking he was heading to the hideout in the Land of Wind, when he went the completely wrong way. His lack of navigation skills never failed him, it seems.

After chugging on some water and eating the rest of his bread, Yusuke went to his empty room, admiring Misaki's wood release, and then slept. Tomorrow night they would probably arrive at the Land of Fire.

~ _Yusuke's Dreamscape_ ~

Goosebumps rose on Yusuke's skin as he trudged along the white sand. Ice cold wind, blowing fiercely, froze his bones and numbed his extremities. What's more, an alien was sitting in front of him on the snow. Unfazed by the blizzard.

"Listen to me, Yusuke Sohda." The alien said. And Yusuke looked up.

"I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths." He said.

"I don't know what the 'Sage of six paths' is. Is it a title or something?" Yusuke questioned.

"Nevermind. In a few months, disaster will strike the world, and you are the only one who will have the opportunity to save it." The Sage spoke, ignoring Yusuke.

"Why am I the only one who can stop it?" he asked. The sage looked directly into the heart of Yusuke's eyes, with his own.

"What you want most is all the riches in the world, correct?" The sage continued.

"Uh…um, yeah." Yusuke answered. Scratching the back of his head. He had no idea how this person knew what he wanted most. Then again, he had heard legends of a sage who founded ninjutsu, who could do everything and anything so he could probably read people's desires.

" _But still, why would the Sage of Six Paths contact me?_ " Yusuke thought.

"And that mark is stopping you from your goal, isn't it?" Hagoromo pointed his finger at Yusuke's left shoulder, where the curse seal of hell resided. Etched into his skin.

Permanent.

"It's stopping me from running away. Every time I think about leaving the hideout or something, the seal starts to _hurt_." He complained.

"It is inhibiting your free will. However, I can lift the mark, but it would require more of my chakra. I have just enough to appear as a mere spectre in your dream. The most I can do is override _some_ of the control the mark has over you. You must understand that the only reason you are capable of stopping this nearing disaster is because you have a shard of me within you."

" _Ok. Shit. For a second I thought this was real, but no. It was just a dream I'm having. Me? Containing a shard of the Sage of Six Paths!? The same person who is the patron deity of shinobi or something like that_." Yusuke sighed. He guessed he would play along in this dream for a while longer.

"When I died, I thought my chakra would disappear entirely, instead it burst and spread into different small fragments across 20 individuals. You are one of them. And for me to fully remove that mark before the up coming horror begins so that it will not dominate your will when you need it most, I need all my chakra fragments to meet at a single point in space. Then leave the rest to me."

"Where are these people at?" Yusuke asked. Hoping another one of his questions wouldn't be ignored.

"I do not know." The sage replied.

"But I can certainly feel my own chakra whenever it is close, so I will alert you by twitching your right hand. Since everyone with fragments of my chakra are receiving this dream as well. Their right hand will also twitch." The sage finished explaining.

"Oh, I see." Yusuke said.

Then he heard his name being called, no, shouted.

"Farewell, Yusuke." The sage bowed his head then disappeared, along with the rest of the dream.

~ _Real World_ ~

"Yusuke. Yusuke! YUSUKE!"

Yusuke woke up with a jolt. In front of him was an angry Misaki. Not. Good.

"You were asleep the whole morning, now we will not reach the hideout in time." Misaki huffed, her normal cool composure destroyed.

"S-sorry, I didn't know." Yusuke moaned as he got out of bed, then yawned and stretched.

Misaki put her hands together, closed her eyes and focused her chakra. Suddenly, the house she created receded back into the sand where it grew from, and Yusuke was in the hot, sun-scorched sand.

"We're leaving. Now." Misaki demanded.

"Fine, fine. I'm going." Yusuke sighed in defeat.

And they were off to the Land of Fire.


	3. Cowardice Lost

The frogs ribbitted through the night as the moon hung high. Two travellers were making their way to Orochimaru's hideout. One was the Super-weapon of her father while the other was a coward, bound by a Curse seal.

Yusuke still hadn't told Misaki of the dream he had. Partly because she probably wouldn't care, and mostly because he thought it was just a dream. Still, it was pretty realistic for one.

"Just a bit further until we reach the Hidden Leaf, right?" Yusuke asked. He was tired from all the body flickering they had done. It was a huge drain on his stamina and chakra. Misaki simply grunted in response, which Yusuke thought was a yes, then went back onto daydreaming about being the wealthiest man alive.

Misaki rarely ever talked to him. Yusuke wasn't sure why, but it must have something to do with the fact that she was only a few days old, so she must not have that much experience with people. Oh well, who would ever want to talk to a soulless test subject? If she didn't want to talk to him then fine, he wouldn't talk ba-.

A kunai headed straight for Yusuke's face, disturbing his pool of thought, witch was redirected by a shuriken launched by Misaki, and ended up lodged in a nearby tree. Their attacker stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to be a jounin with the Hidden Leaf insignia on his headband and out from the shadows came 3 chunin already forming hand signs for their jutsus. Yusuke was paralysed with fear, he couldn't do anything, but Misaki beat the chunins in the who-could-do-their-hand-signs-first game.

 _Wood style: Great Spear Tree_

Several trees burst from the ground and crushed the chunins in an instant, the jounin however swiftly avoided the attack and weaved his own hand signs in a counterattack.

 _Water Style: Water Wall!_

Dense water was conjured up by the jounin and Misaki had to push Yusuke away then retreat using a substitution jutsu. Suddenly, a kunai headed straight for the jounin, which would have been blocked easily if Misaki didn't use a shadow clone jutsu on the kunai, multiplying it by 30. The jounin got a kunai stuck in his right thigh before he was able to back up quickly. Cursing, he took the kunai out and focused his attention on Misaki, Yusuke was still frozen with fear. The jounin formed a couple of hand signs before she could close the distance between them and lo and behold, his most powerful technique.

 _Earth Style: Mud Vortex jutsu!_

Mud appeared seemingly from nowhere as a long, spiral shape in front of the jounin, heading towards an advancing Misaki, who was taken by surprise and ended up getting hit by the jutsu, which not only stopped her straight in her tracks but also entered her body through her mouth and seeped through her skin. Killing her by crushing her internal organs. As for Yusuke, some thought returned back to him, and he realised that the jounin had set off an earth style jutsu, which didn't hit anything, but the jounin smirked anyway as he looked towards him. Killer intent on his eyes.

Until Misaki stabbed him through the heart with a small-scale wood style jutsu. The jounin wasn't smirking anymore, and his eyes were filled with surprise, then utter realization.

"Genjutsu, huh? I never was one for illusionary techniques." He sighed, then coughed up blood, went limp, fell on the ground and died.

Yusuke was shaken to say the least. He had not experienced any killing prior to obtaining his Curse seal. He was a merchant of course, they don't go on killing people, even if they are enemies. What shocked him even more was the jounin's attitude towards death. It was like as if he were greeting an old friend. What pain did he have to go through to be that desensitised by death?

"Can not you even hold your own against such elementary foes?" Misaki scolded. Paused for a while, looking at Yusuke, straight in the eye, then continued.

"I do not know why my father decided to give you the Curse seal. Perhaps it was because he simply needed to test it on a random subject, but at least he could have made sure it wasn't on a useless, spineless _merchant_ like you." Misaki spat out the word 'merchant', stared at Yusuke for a while longer, then walked on towards the Hidden Leaf.

Yusuke was lost for words. Usually when someone insulted him he simply didn't know what to say. He was insulted sometimes just because he was a merchant, and other times because he was a coward. Unlike everyone else in the village, the last time they had a bandit attack, nearly a decade ago he was the _only one_ who ran from the call of duty like a bastard. Even the women fought. Even the children who were younger than him at the time fought. Even the elderly fought. And most of all,

His family fought.

They lost their lives in the battle, driving back the bandits. While he just hid in his room under his bed sheets. Literally. The memories brought deep regret to Yusuke, who was clenching his fists now.

From now on, he would at least _try_ to man up.

 **OROCHIMARU'S HIDEOUT-LAND OF FIRE**

Fumi Uzumaki was not one who would normally read books and scrolls, but she was the type to learn new jutsu. She had already mastered Fire release and Lightning release, and she could create tens of life-like shadow clones. So why was she, master of Fire and Lightning, learning how to do a summoning jutsu? Not just any summoning jutsu, where you could transport animals to you who would fight, but one where you could reanimate the dead, and have complete control over them. Fumi was tasked by Orochimaru himself to learn this jutsu, and you don't argue with the snake man. Speaking of whom, Orochimaru never went outside of his laboratory. Never. He was probably studying some weird kinjutsu, or creating his own.

Whatever it was, it would probably be bad for the Hidden Leaf. Fumi was in command of the invasion force because Kabuto had said so, who was pretty much in charge of everything in Orochimaru's absence.

Since Fumi wasn't someone who liked to read, she quickly grew bored and started looking around the study, until her eyes glossed over a sealing jutsu-The 5 elements seal.

That brought back memories. Back when she was just a normal girl, when her mother had migrated to the Hidden Sound village after the annihilation of the Hidden Whirlpool village. After the destruction of her clan. When they reached the Hidden Sound all those years ago, she could still see the memory of her mother being beaten and tortured right in front of her eyes. They were angry at her for something which to this day Fumi still does not know what. What she does recall was the fact that she was going to be used as a breeder for the Hidden Sound. Of course, she didn't want to live that life, so she ran away, and would have been caught if Orochimaru hadn't shown up and taken her in.

As long as she did what Orochimaru said, she would be able to resurrect her mother, and live in a perfect village under the ideal rule of Orochimaru.

Fumi looked down upon the scroll in front of her. She would learn this jutsu. Resurrect whoever Orochimaru needed to resurrect, then bring back her mother. And with a new found passion she read the scroll, heeding every instruction.

 **THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES-LAND OF FIRE**

Yusuke and Misaki had arrived in the Hidden Leaf, gained access and immediately went to a hotel to sleep in. Only, Yusuke Sohda wouldn't be getting much sleep, for the first time. He was out in the training grounds he had found, training seriously, also for the first time.

 _Wind Style: Air Blow!_

A slice of sharp wind was blown from Yusuke's mouth and was able to cut the log in front of him in half. For the first time.

" _Damn right! Take that, log!_ " Yusuke thought out loud. Huffing and puffing.

He had, in the span of a day, learned how to create a shadow clone (albeit a dodgy one), walk 5 metres up a tree before he fell, and refine his air blow jutsu. This was probably more progress than he had ever made in his life at anything. Ever since learning how to hold chopsticks and eat food for himself.

"Hey, that's pretty good." A voice behind Yusuke praised. He flung his head behind his back, then turned. Seeing the source of the voice: A blond haired blue-eyed man not much older than himself, who was wearing the standard flak jacket that all ninja wear and had a sword attached to his belt.

"Who are you?" Yusuke asked. Not noticing his right arm was twitching.

"I'm Jun Yamanaka, chunin." He replied. A smile, no, a smirk was plastered on his face. His right arm was twitching too.

"Uh, ok." Yusuke said simply. He had never heard of the name 'Yamanaka'. Which is probably why the boy frowned.

"I haven't seen you around here before. You seem like a merchant, but not many know ninjutsu. You must be an undercover spy for another village." Jun wrongly deduced.

"I swear I'm no-." Whatever Yusuke was about to say had to wait. Jun drew his sword and and got into a fighting stance. Only then did he notice his trembling right hand and frowned. Then focused his attention on the undercover ninja in front of him.

Yusuke had already grabbed a kunai that Misaki had given to him just before they left for the Hidden leaf. He held it in his ordinary untrained grip. Unfortunately, the Yamanaka was still not believing Yusuke. They stared down at each other for a while, then they advanced a few paces. Walking. Then running. Then sprinting.

Then clashing. Their right hands twitching even more severely as sword met kunai.


	4. CLASH! CURSE SEAL UNLEASHED!

_Clank!_

Yusuke struck out with his kunai hoping to catch Jun of guard, to no avail, as the Yamanaka parried his diagonal slash.

"You're still trying to play the act? Drop it. Otherwise you'll die!" He yelled. Bringing down his sword in a vertical chop. Yusuke, being the untrained person he was, brought his arms up and closed his eyes in a reflex motion, allowing Jun to cut deeply into his arm.

"Argh!" Yusuke grunted. He backed away and inspected his wound.

It was a deep cut and a scar would finally taint his body when it healed, but it wasn't life threatening not by a long shot, that was going to come after.

"Your eyes should never have looked away. Idiot." Jun formed his hand signs, then conjured tons of water.

 _Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!_

With the water he summoned, it took the shape of a dragon charging straight at Yusuke, who countered with his own jutsu.

 _Wind Style: Air Blow!_

The two jutsus clashed. Well, sort of. Yusuke did his finest Air blow yet, and it did nothing to the water dragon which ignored the pathetic jutsu, and quickly closed the distance between them and hit Yusuke with the force of a thousand mountains. Yet it wasn't meant to kill. He fell backwards from the impact a good 70 metres, hitting a tree which made a weird cracking noise.

Until Yusuke found out it was his back that was cracking. Not the tree.

"Aaaaaaaaaagh!" he shouted in agony. He tried rubbing his back and standing up. But he couldn't move a muscle.

"Now, tell me which village your working for!" Jun demanded. Walking towards Yusuke, sword still in hand.

"I'm…not a nin…ja" Yusuke pleaded, gasping for breath as his throat felt like it were collapsing and his spine felt as if it were penetrating his lungs. His stomach was rigid and his vision was blurry. He wanted, no, _needed_ sleep.

Yes, sleep. He would wake up back in the hotel. All he needed was sleep. So, Yusuke closed his eyes and began to hibernate. Until his face went blue and found out that he had to force himself to breath. It was no longer an involuntary action, and easier said than done. The air went in slowly, and always left Yusuke gasping for more.

"Pathetic. Which ever village you come from has some pretty low standards for ninja." Jun spoke, as he edged closer and closer towards Yusuke, who just sat there looking up at him warily.

Then his eyelids began to close. And the Yamanaka was going to get the shock of his life.

~ _Yusuke's Mental Realm_ ~

Yusuke found himself in a dark room filled with water. At least up to his ankle. This must be the place where he is judged wether or not he goes to heaven or hell. He already knew where he was going to.

"Your life-force is weakening." The sage of the six paths spoke up. Phasing into being in front of Yusuke who was surprised initially, then recovered.

"Yeah no shit. What do you want now?" Yusuke asked. Looking at the Sage with a hopeful smile. If his dream that he had was true and he did have some of the sage's chakra, then maybe he might lend it to him.

And as if reading his mind, the legendary Sage replied.

"Yes, I can give you all of my chakra that is in your body currently. But before I do you must listen." Yusuke perked up when he heard this.

"Jun Yamanaka, wields a fragment of my chakra as well. I thought you would've noticed from the twitching in the right hand." The Sage continued.

"Oh yeah! That I remember." Yusuke widened his eyes in revelation.

"All that you need to do is to incapacitate Jun, then make contact with him, and I will pull out my chakra from him and place him under a genjutsu so he forgets what he was doing which I should be able to do once I get his portion of my chakra back. Understand?" The sage pressed on.

"Yeah, I get it. You give me chakra, I beat Jun with your chakra, I touch Jun, then you'll do the rest. Right?" Yusuke questioned. The sage simply nodded. Then put his hand on Yusuke's head and spoke.

"Now. Rise."

~ _Real World_ ~

Jun was right in front of the undercover ninja. He planned on capturing him and interrogating him using his mind transfer jutsu. He would uncover a plot to destroy the Hidden Leaf and he would finally be promoted to Jounin and make his clan proud. Then Yusuke's lips reached his cheeks, and he stuck up the middle finger.

Scratch his old plan! Now he was going to kill this pathetic life form on the spot!

Jun brought his sword down in another vertical slash.

He saw blood. Expected that. He saw a body shaking. Expected that. He saw Yusuke catching on to his sword with his _bare hands_. Blood oozing out of the soon-to-be scar on his palm. Jun's body was shaking out of sheer shock. Then he was kicked by Yusuke and sent back 5 metres before he regained his balance.

Didn't expect that.

Yusuke stood up. His injuries weren't healed completely, but blood wasn't dripping as fast as it should have on those wounds Jun had just inflicted. If any other ninja was in his place they would be calling for back up immediately. But not Jun, he was a stickler for intense fights.

So he smiled. Then let out a laugh of ecstasy. "Bring it!" Jun yelled. Smile still plastered on to his face.

The 2 clashed. Kunai yet again meeting sword, only, the ninja with the kunai moved forward. Dragging Jun backwards as he was overpowered by the strength of the individual he was fighting. Weapons still locked with each other, It was only a matter of time before Jun was cornered, but that was not going to happen. After the initial shock of facing his opponents true power, he had let him gain the upper hand, but not for long.

Jun leaped away to a nearby tree, standing on its thick branch. Yusuke hot on his tail, followed him to.

" _Now is my chance!_ " Jun smiled. As he grabbed a single shuriken and launched it at Yusuke who was still in mid-air.

 _Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!_

Several other shuriken appeared near the original. There were 5 in total. And all 5 hit their target. Lodging themselves in its body. The log was completely destroyed.

It doesn't take a genius to find out what had just transpired. Yusuke had used a substitution jutsu to escape, and before Jun could react, a fist went straight into his jaw. Losing his balance, he landed on the ground and formed several hand signs.

 _Earth Style: Mud Wall_

A wall of earth rose up in front of Jun, anticipating another attack from Yusuke who unwittingly charged at the mud wall. Hurting only himself, he got back on his feet and jumped over the wall, launching his one and only kunai at the Yamanaka, who didn't even bother to dodge as the it missed its target horribly and flopped on the ground. Still, Yusuke was able to make his way to Jun.

 _Wind Style: Air Blow!_

The attack left a small cut on the ground a few metres deep. Jun dodged at the last second and prepared to do a counterattack with his clan's signature move.

 _Earth Style: Quick Sand!_

When Yusuke landed where he created the cut, the earth underneath him began to turn into quicksand, and his feet were sucked in so that he could no longer move. Jun positioned his hands in a triangle shape.

 _Mind Body Switch Jutsu!_

Yusuke had no idea what was coming, but it was bad. Really bad, and his instincts had never failed him in any bargain he made, they wouldn't fail him now.

 _Shadow Clone Jutsu!_

Right in front him appeared an exact copy of himself. Though it was missing a left arm. Jun realised to late, as his mind entered the shadow clone instead of Yusuke's real body, who punched the clone hard in the gut, making it burst into smoke.

"Ugh." Jun got up warily in his own body. It was a smart counter, if anything. Still, Yusuke could not move. The quicksand was prohibiting any movement and as he struggled to get out of it, Jun realised he couldn't take anymore risks than he just did. He would have to do this the old fashioned way. Jun kicked the immobilised Yusuke in the gut, who flinched and brought his hands to his face instead, giving Jun another clean shot. A right. A left. A right. Yusuke tried grabbing the Yamanaka, but he would just move out of his range every time he tried. Things were looking hopeless.

But they just got worse.

Suddenly, flame like marks appeared across Yusuke's skin. Engulfing his body. His skin turned dark grey and 6 horns appeared on his head, 3 on either side. His muscle mass also increased. He wasn't terribly buff, but it was noticeable. 2 snakes protruded from Yusuke's back, resting on his left and right shoulders respectively. His expensive silk robes were ripped off.

But the most terrible change, was in his eyes. His eyes were a bright yellow and glowed in the dark. They were the eyes of a predator. Not even Yusuke's nastiest my-item-is-worth-way-more-than-what-you're-willing-to-pay-for stare came close to the gleam that was in this beast's eyes. Jun backed away immediately, his quick sand jutsu had been broken out of, and he needed to call reinforcements. Immediately. Before this monstrosity could get a chance to kill him.

 _Too Late._

The beast launched itself at the Yamanaka before he could even react, claws outstretched, reaching for Jun's face. Then missing horribly as the thing skidded past him and toppled over o the dirt grass.

"Too fast for your own good, eh?" Jun remarked. The beast was not used to the speeds it had obtained just a few seconds ago, and growled as it turned its horned head back.

Suddenly, the 2 snakes on 'Yusuke's' back stretched themselves so far and fast they were able to cover the difference in distance between the 2 combatants. Jun dodged one but got hit by another, sending him back a few metres.

" _Damn it! I'm going to have to rely on my Genjutsu and the fact he can't control his power_." The Yamanaka thought in his head.

The beast charged straight at Jun, this time going at a slower speed in order not to go out of control, and landed a blow to the Yamanaka's head sending him straight to, and colliding with a tree. Jun slumped, he hardly had the chakra, or the energy to move his body, the end for him was coming.

"Just do it already." He managed to spit out. Yusuke growled in reply, and prepared another air blow jutsu.

Until his 2 snakes were cut off by the blade of a sword. Looking behind him, ignoring the pain, Yusuke saw Jun-the real one-grin in triumph. The fake one he had hurt was only a genjutsu.

Blood soaked the dirt ground as the decapitated bodies of the snakes bled feverishly. Red flames engulfed Yusuke's body once again and the curse seal wore off. Yusuke was back to normal, and now he was going to get gutted by this blond-haired bastard. He couldn't move, but he still had the Sage's chakra. Just before Jun arched his sword down, aiming for Yusuke's neck, hit instead a stray log.

The merchant had used a substitution, and was behind the Yamanaka now, who could only turn back in time for him to get hit in the gut, then a shadow clone pinned him in an arm lock. Yusuke then placed his hand on Jun's shoulder and let the Sage do the rest of the work.

He could feel a familiar presence flowing through his body, entering through his hand which was on the Yamanaka's shoulder. No doubt the Sage of the Six paths' chakra. When the presence stopped entering Yusuke's body, his right arm no longer began to twitch, and he felt fairly refreshed, despite the fight he had with this chunin. Must be the extra chakra he had acquired from him. Speaking of whom, Jun eyes widened in revelation-after recovering from the beating that was inflicted upon him.

"Y-you! You h-ave his chakra as…as well!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, I do, so what?" Yusuke stared at the chunin, his shadow clone that was holding him had been dismissed, and out of all of the things that had occurred in their battle, it was a surprise that Jun was more shocked that Yusuke had Hagoromo's chakra then the fact that he had turned into a beast not long ago.

"So…do you know where…the others are?" Jun asked. Panting for more air.

"No, I only met you out of pure chance." Yusuke replied.

"Then we have a lot of work ahead of us." Jun stated.

"What do you mean?"

"We're going to have to find the other 18 chakra fragments. And we're going to get them all tomorrow."


	5. Blood of the Heavenly Mother

**Our story continues in the 5** **th** **chapter of Yusuke's story. He will learn of Orochimaru's plan and will be forced to participate in the invasion of the leaf village, while simultaneously gathering the other 18 chakra fragments of the Legendary Sage. But before that, he obtains a power reserved for the Legendary Sannin himself.**

Jun stared down at Yusuke in sudden revelation. How could he have not known that this man had the Sage of Six Paths' chakra as well? Nonetheless, they had a huge task ahead of them, and they needed every help they could get. The Yamanaka contemplated on asking Lady Fifth for some aid, but that didn't really matter. She was a busy woman and would probably send a few ANBU squad members at the most.

And that's if she believed them.

"Look, we should both rest up for tomorrow, then I can get us to leave the village and start looking for them." Jun suggested.

"Um, how do we know where to start? We can't magically sense them." Yusuke rebutted. Even if they knew where they were headed, he couldn't leave as his Curse seal still bonded him to Orochimaru's influence. Which was something he didn't want to confide.

"Well, I'm sure me meeting you wasn't a coincidence. Maybe if we just let our legs lead us we will find the rest." Jun responded.

Again Yusuke was feeling uncomfortable. He couldn't abandon the mission that was programmed into his Curse seal, whatever that may be. If Jun's hypothesis is true; that it is not a coincidence, then why don't they let the other 18 come to them instead?

"I…I'll think about it?" Yusuke said.

Jun stared at him a while longer, then just left. Without a trace-beside the battlefield the two of them left behind-as they both walked to their respective homes.

When he arrived at the hotel he and Misaki had rented, he immediately dropped on his bed and closed his eyes for a deep sleep, plagued with nightmares and long lost dreams of grey-skinned snakes and unimaginable wealth. Until he woke up when Misaki coerced him to get up.

The road to Orochimaru's hideout was a treacherous one. More than a few bandits had tried to steal their belongings (Misaki dealt with them, accordingly), giant, rage-filled animals ran rampant and the snakes bit Yusuke twice.

"We are nearly there. You have to get up and keep walking. Now" Misaki commanded.

"Why do you always act so cold to me? I mean, what did I do to you?" the merchant complained, getting up from the rock he was resting at nonetheless.

The snake-girl didn't respond.

In her mind, Yusuke was but a nuisance. His weakness and incapability to do anything at all was infuriating her. She was sent on a mission to retrieve a sheep and lead it to its doom. He was absolutely useless to do anything even remotely useful. And he won't shut up over her pointing out his innumerable flaws.

That is what Misaki thought of him. Of the greedy, fat, coward merchant of the Wind country.

They walked further into the distance until the both of them could distinguish a large gate leading underground. There was a seal on it until Misaki had neutralised it, opening the gate and going underground to the devil's lair.

Every ninja in the hideout was assembled in front of Kabuto (with the exception of Misaki), who eyed his soldiers with indifference.

"You've all come here to be briefed on your new mission. We will invade and conquer the Hidden Leaf village." Kabuto's voice echoed throughout the whole compound. Murmurs spread across like butter through the assembly. The last time they had tried to do so, it failed, and it probably would once again they all thought. Little did they no yet. Yusuke was off at the back of the assembly, shocked at what he was hearing. He slowly started to back away from the crowd as Kabuto spoke on about the details of the plan. Of course, he couldn't run away, his Curse seal made sure of it, but he wasn't trying to escape the hideout, just going somewhere to process what he just heard.

"Shit!" Yusuke hissed. Still briskly walking away from the debriefing.

"What am I going to do!?" He thought out loud, getting worried by the fact he would be forced to kill innocent people. In a rage filled burst akin to when he fought Jun and the Curse seal of Hell activated.

Yusuke had walked further away from Kabuto and his goons. Everyone was assembled there save for Misaki, who left him as soon as they had arrived. So there was a slim chance that he would be caught.

His fists curled up in a soup of anger and stress and worry. "What am I going to do?" he whispered to himself. He released his hands, but his right one kept on twitching.

Immediately Yusuke realised what was happening, but he couldn't hear any footsteps. Was it possible the Sage of Six paths' chakra could also be in objects? He let his feet guide him to wherever the source was.

And it took hours until he finally stood in front of a large, ancient stone door. It seemed to be calling him. Something _inside_ it was beckoning him to come and plunder whatever it was that was in there. And there was writing on the door.

 _You can not enter if you do not possess the founding essence._

 _Or the life-giving blood._

 _Or the grim eyes._

 _Or the nature's way._

 _Or if you possess the heart of black-evil._

As Yusuke moved closer to the door, he put his palm on it. Suddenly, the writing lit up glowing like the twilight, and the door was contemplating whether or not to let him in.

Until the glowing stopped. And the door opened.

Revealing a dark room, with what seemed to be an altar with a bowl on top of it. Other than that it remained empty, save for the few scrolls lying here and there.

Oh, and it was cold. Like ice seeping into the skin.

Yusuke walked slowly towards the altar, when he saw a small inscription on it.

 _Drink the eldritch blood of the Heavenly Mother._

 _Be forever hunted._

 _By the demons of the deepest depths of hell._

 _And the might of the lineage of the Heavenly Mother._

This was the source. The blood of this 'Heavenly Mother' had been calling to Yusuke the whole time. And he felt the strongest urge to drink it.

And like an idiot, he did.

Then the pain came. It destroyed his organs and vaporised his blood. Restoring it with the crimson liquid. Yusuke collapsed, while screaming his lungs out, or what was left of them. A thousand knifes pierced his insides and gouged them out. His eyes fell out of their sockets and his hair fell out.

Then the screaming stopped. And Yusuke Sohda was no more.

"All of you know what you need to do. So in the meantime, prepare yourselves for the invasion. There _will_ be no discrepancies." Kabuto commanded, as the entire cohort agreed before being dismissed. He went up to Orochimaru's laboratory and opened the door, only to see countless scrolls and books piled everywhere in a strange big mess, and no Orochimaru in sight.

Kabuto sighed. His master had been doing this _a lot_ recently. In fact, he never told Kabuto what he exactly was doing that was taking so much of his time. Whatever it was, it _had_ to be exciting.

 **If you wish to know what happened to Yusuke after drinking the blood, read the explanation in the next instalment.**


End file.
